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In my opinion, the 02-03 change for this boat was one of the biggest/best/most important model changes by CC in recent history. I would say its worth the 5K--its your call in the end, but here's why I strongly reccomend it...
For one, the stretched TSCII hull is a great hull for slaloming. I do not have much experience with the previous TSCI hull, but I did slalom behind it in 01 I think. One of the famous advantages of the TSCII hull is that it "flattens" the rooster tail, it literally looks like someone flattened it down along the wake. When I cut across the wake behind my fams 216, I see what looks like two small, wider, rooster tails. Overall, there is unarguably much less of a "hump" behind the '03 216 wake. Besides the rooster tail aspect, it is extremely soft as well. However, it is wider (b/c its "flattened," of course).
Besides the wake aspect of the boats, the 03 216 surpasses the 02 Air in room, comfort, storage, etc, by far... That year CC thinned out the gunells (sp?) along the sides of the boat. You will notice, if you sit in the 02, that you are sitting pretty far away from the side of the boat, esp. compared to the 03 216. Due to this, the new 216 appears to have a much wider beam (while still being a narrow 91"). the USCG approved the 216 for 10, while the 02 AIR is only good for 9 people. The bows of the boats are also very different, in the same way. B/c the 03 has a wider interior, the bow is even on both sides and long enough to comfortably stretch and lie down in. I dont think the 02 is like this. Also, you'll notice in the 02 that the walkthrough is not centered. This caused the starboard side of the bow to appear to be smaller in the boat. If you take out the miniscule cooler in the 216, you can fit a couple skis in the center. I'm not sure if this is the same in the 02. In the rear storage, you will only be able to fit a 68" ski diagonally in it. This is b/c 03 was the last year that the ballast tanks in the rear actually curved up the side of the boat, making it very difficult for skis to fit there. They changes this in 04 to make the storage totally flat.
Regarding the MC 209/X9, if you really want to disregard quality, tracking, etc.., you will find that the MC wakes are almost always wider than CC's. In all fairness, the last time i was behind one was in '99, and I remember it being nice. However, you don't have that "flattened" rooster tail that the 216 does. You will have the normal MC rooster tail (something better than CC's classic/infamous rooster tail, while probably not as good as the TSCII's flattened tail). In addition, the 209 is simply a much wider boat. This, innevitably, will create a wake wider at all speeds.
For the 216, the faster you go the better. Don't forget, the boat wants to create a "wakeboard" wake at slow speeds--thats what it was made to do--its a "crossover." The best wakeboard speeds are 16-21, so during the mid-20's, the boat sucks at everything, to be honest... the wake is too big for slaloming but rediculously small for boarding. For slaloming, the advantages of the DD and hull really can be seen once you get into the 30+ MPH range. At 30 MPH, the boat really startes to plane out more than at 28, and the wake really starts to diminish drastically. If you wife skis at 28, I'd recomend bumping the speed up just a little, the sacrafice might be worth the better wake.
Hope this helps... we got the 216 in 04 and have no regrets... neither do the other people on the lake who got them...
Austin
For one, the stretched TSCII hull is a great hull for slaloming. I do not have much experience with the previous TSCI hull, but I did slalom behind it in 01 I think. One of the famous advantages of the TSCII hull is that it "flattens" the rooster tail, it literally looks like someone flattened it down along the wake. When I cut across the wake behind my fams 216, I see what looks like two small, wider, rooster tails. Overall, there is unarguably much less of a "hump" behind the '03 216 wake. Besides the rooster tail aspect, it is extremely soft as well. However, it is wider (b/c its "flattened," of course).
Besides the wake aspect of the boats, the 03 216 surpasses the 02 Air in room, comfort, storage, etc, by far... That year CC thinned out the gunells (sp?) along the sides of the boat. You will notice, if you sit in the 02, that you are sitting pretty far away from the side of the boat, esp. compared to the 03 216. Due to this, the new 216 appears to have a much wider beam (while still being a narrow 91"). the USCG approved the 216 for 10, while the 02 AIR is only good for 9 people. The bows of the boats are also very different, in the same way. B/c the 03 has a wider interior, the bow is even on both sides and long enough to comfortably stretch and lie down in. I dont think the 02 is like this. Also, you'll notice in the 02 that the walkthrough is not centered. This caused the starboard side of the bow to appear to be smaller in the boat. If you take out the miniscule cooler in the 216, you can fit a couple skis in the center. I'm not sure if this is the same in the 02. In the rear storage, you will only be able to fit a 68" ski diagonally in it. This is b/c 03 was the last year that the ballast tanks in the rear actually curved up the side of the boat, making it very difficult for skis to fit there. They changes this in 04 to make the storage totally flat.
Regarding the MC 209/X9, if you really want to disregard quality, tracking, etc.., you will find that the MC wakes are almost always wider than CC's. In all fairness, the last time i was behind one was in '99, and I remember it being nice. However, you don't have that "flattened" rooster tail that the 216 does. You will have the normal MC rooster tail (something better than CC's classic/infamous rooster tail, while probably not as good as the TSCII's flattened tail). In addition, the 209 is simply a much wider boat. This, innevitably, will create a wake wider at all speeds.
For the 216, the faster you go the better. Don't forget, the boat wants to create a "wakeboard" wake at slow speeds--thats what it was made to do--its a "crossover." The best wakeboard speeds are 16-21, so during the mid-20's, the boat sucks at everything, to be honest... the wake is too big for slaloming but rediculously small for boarding. For slaloming, the advantages of the DD and hull really can be seen once you get into the 30+ MPH range. At 30 MPH, the boat really startes to plane out more than at 28, and the wake really starts to diminish drastically. If you wife skis at 28, I'd recomend bumping the speed up just a little, the sacrafice might be worth the better wake.
Hope this helps... we got the 216 in 04 and have no regrets... neither do the other people on the lake who got them...
Austin